Department for Transport

Transport Update

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: My Right Honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Transport (Mark Harper), has made the following Ministerial Statement:Members will be aware that, in July 2022, Avanti West Coast experienced an immediate and near total cessation of drivers volunteering to work on passenger trains on rest days. In response, it has had to reduce its timetable to provide greater certainty for passengers.Similarly, TransPennine Express services continue to be impacted by the loss of rest day working, higher-than-average staff sickness levels, and historically high levels of drivers leaving the business.The current rail services in the North have therefore been unacceptable, and on November 30th I met with the Northern mayors in Manchester. In that meeting, we agreed that the rail industry is not set up to deliver a modern reliable service, and that we need both short-term and long-term measures to address this.As a short-term measure, Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express have both been rapidly increasing the number of drivers they employ. This is helping Avanti restore the services that they were forced to withdraw. Services increased in September, and have now increased to 7 trains per hour, restoring the full Manchester-London service. It is therefore disappointing that passengers will not see the full benefit of these changes until the current wave of industrial action is over. I was pleased to see the RMT call off the strike action scheduled for Avanti West Coast on 11 and 12 December, as sustaining this level of service will require the support of the trade unions.I have also given TransPennine Express and Northern the scope they need to put a meaningful and generous rest day working offer to ASLEF. However, giving operators a mandate is only the first step. ASLEF need to enter negotiations, and put any new deal to its members and, if accepted, do all it can to make that deal work. TransPennine has made a generous revised offer to ASLEF and it was almost immediately rejected without being put to members. It is up to the unions to decide if they want to improve services, for the good of passengers and the wider economy in the North.Today, the RMT are on strike across the country again, disrupting services and driving passengers away from the railway. In my meeting with the mayors, we all agreed on the need for a reliable railway seven days a week. That means not having fragile rest day working agreements and breaking the railway’s dependence on rest day working altogether. No modern and successful business relies on the goodwill of its staff to deliver for its customers in the evening and at the weekend. I want a railway with rewarding jobs, contracted to deliver every service promised to the public. I want to encourage passengers back to a financially sustainable railway.

Home Office

Update to the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: My rt hon Friend the Minister of State for Immigration (Robert Jenrick) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:On 10 February 2022 Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC updated the House of Lords that potential victims of modern slavery would be provided with at least a 45-day recovery period, or until a Conclusive Grounds decision is made, whichever comes later. When Lord Stewart made this statement, this was the Government’s intention. However, since becoming Minister for Immigration, I have made clear the Government’s renewed commitment to reviewing and reforming the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to ensure that opportunities for abuse and inefficiencies, which have contributed to decision making and processing taking far too long, are addressed. Given this necessity for NRM reform and in line with our obligations under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Government will, effective immediately (13 December 2022), be amending guidance to make clear the minimum recovery period will be 30 days rather than 45. 30 days is the amount of time requested by the convention and is the standard recovery period for many ECAT-signatory states. The Government remains committed to ensuring potential victims of modern slavery can access appropriate needs-based support during the Recovery Period in line with international and domestic legal obligations. Today I am also updating Parliament on forthcoming changes to the guidance for Modern Slavery Reasonable Grounds decision making, which will go live operationally in January 2023. In January, the guidance will be included in Modern Slavery: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and Non-Statutory Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland and published on GOV.UK. The updated guidance will mean decision makers now base their assessments on objective factors to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe a person is a victim. This will ensure that decision makers can make timely and robust evidence-backed decisions and that assistance and support are focused on those who most need it. A copy of the draft statutory guidance will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and will also be made available on GOV.UK when it becomes operational.

Leader of the House of Lords

Publication of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s 2021-22 Annual Report

Lord True: The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has today laid before Parliament a report covering the work of the Committee between August 2021 and March 2022. The 2021-2022 Annual Report demonstrates the wide-ranging work of the Committee across a number of important issues. Whilst there have been changes in Government between the final drafting and publication of this report, I reiterate the Government’s gratitude to the Committee for its continued independent oversight and scrutiny of the UK Intelligence Community, and I look forward to working together.The membership of the Committee has changed during the period covered by the report, and I would like to thank the Rt Hon. Dame Diana Johnson MP and the Rt Hon. Mark Pritchard MP for their work on the Committee, and welcome the new members, Maria Eagle MP and the Rt Hon. Sir Jeremy Wright MP into the role.The Government continues to support the Committee on its ongoing Inquiries on International Partnerships, China, Cloud Technologies, and Iran, and looks forward to seeing the conclusions of the Committee’s subsequent reports. The Government reiterates its thanks to the Committee for its thorough Inquiry and detailed report on Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism, published on 13 July 2022, and will respond formally in due course.The Government values the scrutiny the Committee provides through their Inquiries, and this oversight is vital in ensuring the public can have confidence that our Agencies are operating in full accordance with the law. Protecting the operational capabilities of the Agencies and wider Intelligence Community to ensure the safety and security of our nation remains a critical priority for the Government. We will continue to engage constructively with the Committee to ensure their effective public oversight, in line with their powers as set out in statute, while balancing scrutiny and accountability with the need to protect our operating capabilities.The Government considers the current Memorandum of Understanding with the Committee to be sufficient to enable the Committee to conduct their statutory oversight duties to provide effective scrutiny and robust oversight of the Agencies and wider Intelligence Community. The Government notes the Committee’s comments regarding the provision of sensitive information to Parliamentary Select Committees. There is existing guidance establishing that classification is not a reason for Government to withhold information from Parliamentary Committees and there is an agreed process in place to provide sensitive information to any Committee as required.I would like to again thank the Committee for their work, and I look forward to working with them as they continue their vital oversight duties.